Josh Holcomb of Boerne Champion slides safely into first base as Baker Mayfield of Lake Travis attempts to tag him in a pick off attempt during Class 4A regional finals baseball action at Wolff Stadium on Saturday, June 2, 2012.

Josh Holcomb of Boerne Champion slides safely into first base as Baker Mayfield of Lake Travis attempts to tag him in a pick off attempt during Class 4A regional finals baseball action at Wolff Stadium on

Baker Mayfield of Lake Travis scores what would turn out to be the winning run in the top of the 8th inning as they defeat Boerne Champion, 3-2, during Class 4A regional finals baseball action at Wolff Stadium on Saturday, June 2, 2012.

Baker Mayfield of Lake Travis scores what would turn out to be the winning run in the top of the 8th inning as they defeat Boerne Champion, 3-2, during Class 4A regional finals baseball action at Wolff Stadium

Boerne Champion's improbable run to the Region IV-4A final began with a disastrous start to the season, with losses in five of its first seven games.

The Chargers clawed back to .500 by district play and spent more than a month in the playoffs, pulling off at least one major upset.

Champion's season ended one round short of the state tournament on Saturday with a 3-2 loss against Lake Travis in eight innings. But senior Luke Strieber found some consolation in how far the team had gone.

“I don't think many more people than the ones in our dugout thought we'd be in the regional final,” he said. “It was a special season.”

Lake Travis swept the best-of-3 Class 4A regional final series on Saturday after a 9-1 victory in Game 1 on Friday.

The Cavaliers scored the series-winning run in extra innings on a Ryan Lee bloop single to score Baker Mayfield.

Lee drove home all three Lake Travis runs Saturday, adding a bases-loaded two-run single in the third inning.

Strieber (7-3) threw a complete game for Champion, allowing eight hits with just one walk.

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“I was going the distance,” said Strieber, who threw more than 120 pitches. “If it went 12 innings, I still would have been out there.”

But Champion's offense struggled to get Strieber help and left nine runners on base, including at least one in each of the first seven innings. Josh Holcomb led off the fifth with a single, but Champion was unable to get him home.

There was a breakthrough in the sixth with an unlikely hero. Jace Bullinger, who had 14 at-bats all season, made his first start of the playoffs on Saturday and hit an RBI single to score Will Bandujo. Holcomb added an infield hit to score Nate Guerra and tie the game at 2-2.

But Lake Travis was able to get the last key hit in extra innings. Daniel Castano (6-3), Lake Travis' expected Game 3 starter if Champion won Game 2, entered in relief in the sixth and retired the last six batters he faced for the victory.

Champion (27-12) began the season with a 2-5 record and was 8-8 after its first district game, a loss to Brennan.

The Chargers went on a 12-game winning streak to claim District 28-4A, then stormed to the regional final with a run that included a 4-3 victory last week against Corpus Christi Calallen — ranked No. 1 in the nation at the time by ESPN — in a one-game playoff.

Lake Travis (33-10) is headed to its first baseball state tournament. The Chargers' elimination continues a drought for San Antonio baseball, as no area team has gone to state since Medina Valley in Class 3A in 2008.

“Once we got a run, I thought we were making the comeback,” Holcomb said. “But it just wasn't meant to be for us.”